Flowers
by inkscribbles
Summary: Percy and Annabeth spend an afternoon together making flower crowns, how cute! Oneshot, Percabeth, and reviews are appreciated! Thanks!


I gazed at the water. A couple of water nymphs sat at the bottom of the lake. They wove baskets out of seaweed with nimble fingers and giggled when they caught me staring. I blushed. They giggled even more, so I finally turned to go back to camp, to the one person felt like I could be myself with. "Annabeth!" I called, hiking up the mossy bank. All of a sudden, a poop load of golden dust rained on my head. I looked up to see Annabeth materialize on a tree branch. "What's up, Seaweed Brain?" She flashed me a smile. My insides squeezed into a knot, like they did whenever Annabeth smiled at me nowadays. "Hey... Percy, you ok? I didn't mean to scar you. I was just studying. Chill." I nodded, noticing for the first time the thick-and when I say thick, I mean thick-book in her hands. The title was written in Ancient Greek. "I'm fine. Except for the fact that you abused me with a shower of golden sparkles." I mock-grouched. Annabeth grinned. "You should be thanking me, Son of Poseidon. Gold suits you." I snorted. All of a sudden, her gray eyes sparkled mischievously, like she could birth stars out of those beautiful eyes of hers. "Ok. I'll remove the sparkles," she said, slowly backing up. She then whipped around and scooped a cup of water in her palm and flicked it at my face. Technically, being the son of Poseidon, I could only get wet if I wanted to. So, the water ricocheted off my face and trickled down my clothes without a trace. But I had something in mind. "Oh, it's on!" I yelled, and a three foot wave rose behind Annabeth and doused her, pulling her back in as it retreated to the water. I doubled over laughing. Being the son of Poseidon did have its advantages. But then Annabeth didn't come back up. A full minute passed, and I had begun to get worried. I crouched down on the edge and peered into the water, searching it intently. I tried to remember whether or not Annabeth could swim, and soon another twenty seconds passed, and I was about to plunge into the lake when the water rippled and out popped a laughing Annabeth. I burned bright red. "That wasn't funny!" I yelled hotly. Annabeth sensed my seriousness and her laughter died. It was a pain to not hear Annabeth's laugh anymore, but there was real urgency in my voice. "I thought I lost you!" Annabeth shook her head and brushed a leaf off my shoulder. Only then did I realize I was trembling. "Come on, Seaweed Brain." She blinked her dazzling gray eyes. "I'm not going anywhere." Her voice had a touch of certainty to it, as if she wouldn't leave my side for the world. And I knew she wouldn't. I calmed down, and we just sat there Annabeth still in the water, and me crouching on the bank, just simply searching each other's eyes for a flicker of something. Something beyond all of this. Just as I was going to apologize for being stupid, Annabeth said, "Ok, Seaweed Brain, I'll devote my entire afternoon to you." She bit her lip as if she had trouble saying the rest. "As an apology." I almost laughed because this was so like Annabeth. But, I pulled her up and she came out dry (benefits of being friends with me), and we lay on the bank, with my feet to water and Annabeth's toward camp, although our heads were still side by side. Annabeth taught me how to make flower crowns, while I told her a joke about a waitress and a nun, which made her laugh so hard she cried. Pure happiness spread across my chest. Annabeth was a pro at flower crowns. "Me and Thalia would have contests when we were little. We would even make them all night, just so we could dumb them all on Luke to wake him up. He almost suffocated once," she said, happy and sad at the memory of Luke. I didn't say anything, scared I would trigger something. Annabeth then noticed my crown, made of wild violets, daisies, and small yellow flowers. "Buttercups," Annabeth had said. "Whose it for?" She asked, working on a crown of the small flowers herself. "Rachel," I replied without the slightest thought. I instantly regretted what I said. I knew Annabeth didn't like Rachel. I knew Rachel was just a friend. I knew that Annabeth had devoted her whole entire day to teach me how to make flower crowns, even though Chiron, Dionysus, and Annabeth's half siblings were turning camp upside down looking for us. Only to find out I was making them for the one person she didn't like. "Oh" was all she said, and my stomach felt like it had melted, froze, and had been twisted into an animal balloon all at the same time. The worse part is Annabeth didn't even sound mad. Just... What was that in her voice? Longing? Depression? There was definitely sadness in there, and maybe a twinge of longing. It would have been better if she had blew up at me, or even punched me in the face-I wouldn't care. Instead, she just shut me out. But she didn't know this was actually the one way to tear me down. I tried to apologize, but it felt like my voice had just disappeared. I didn't have any courage, anyways. I just kept working on my crown as Annabeth finished hers, and then finished another, and then another, and then another-until she had a small pile laying next to her. All of the wildflowers were gone. "I'll go get more flowers," she said flatly. It was the first thing she'd said to me in more than half an hour. I felt like cursing myself in Greek a thousand times. When she had left, I put down the flower crown and covered my face with my hands. I hated myself so much. When she returned with an armful of flowers, I was done with my crown. Instead of lying down next to me, she set the flowers down and picked up her pile of crowns, and walked towards the dock. The sun was about to set. Dinner call would sound soon. I got up and jogged after her. "Hey," I said. "Wait up." She ignored me, and kneeled by the dock. She then slowly placed a crown in the water, one by one; until she had only two left. "The water nymphs are fascinated by them." She explained. I nodded; the water nymphs liked anything crafty. Annabeth then stood up, and delivered a clear, sharp whistle. She tossed the remaining two flower crowns in the air, and a great gray owl appeared out of the sky, swooping on the flower crowns and then flying off. "That's Gladys." Annabeth smiled a bit. "My companion owl." I looked up at the sky darkly. "Gladys almost gave me a heart attack." I complained. Annabeth replied with a snort. She then sat down on the dock and let her converses skim the lake water; I sat down next to her, and even though my feet were in the water, they were still dry. I still had the flower crown in my hands. Annabeth's gaze fell on it. "You know, that's a really pretty crown. I'm sure Rachel would love it." That voice again. Instead of apologizing for earlier, I picked up the crown and placed it delicately on her head. Annabeth eyed me. "I thought this was for Rachel." I smiled weakly at her. "I decided it would look better on you." Annabeth smiled slowly, and then gave me a kiss on the tip of my nose. Luckily, the dinner call rang and she couldn't hear my breath struggle. She stood up. "Let's go, Seaweed Brain. We need a good excuse for when we face Chiron." Luckily, when we got to dinner, Chiron was more relieved than angry when he found out where we were. Dionysus just stared grudgingly and commented in a flat voice, "Nice crown, Annabelle." Annabeth was so pleased she didn't even correct him. I found that surprising. When we sat down for dinner, I sat next to Grover, who fussed over me like a mama goat. But that was nothing compared to the buzzing crowd of Athena children that swarmed Annabeth like a cloud of angry hornets. Several of them spotted the crown and complimented it, but some dismissed it and continued to scold, especially the older ones. But Annabeth didn't seem at all resentful. I even caught her gaze when we unconsciously looked up at the same time-our eyes locked. And in the torchlight, Annabeth blushed. 


End file.
